Victor Melamed Creates Rock Star Portraits for Rolling Stone Moscow

These graphic rock star portraits emphasize the most extreme features of more than a dozen famous musicians. From Jimmy Hendrix to Janis Joplin, many of Rock n Roll's biggest legends are portrayed in this collection by Russian artist Victor Melamed.

The drawings are bold and unforgiving, depicting each pop star in a slightly different way. Despite the tonal differences, every image is decidedly ugly in one way or another. This approach takes a purposely different approach to depicting these music icons. Whereas most photos and depictions of these artists aim to immortalize and beautify them, these rock star portraits are dark and graphic. More cartoons than true to life portraits, Melamed's drawings morph the rockers into his own twisted versions.